College can be rigorous and demanding, but finding a suitable job after graduation requires a whole new skill set. Seeing an opportunity, new companies are stepping in to help ease the transition.

Catie Ryan graduated from Elon University in North Carolina last spring with a desire to put her sports management degree to work. She found an internship at a nonprofit organization back home in Washington, but was stuck in her quest for a job in her field.

Ande Murray, who graduated from the University of Southern California last year, thought her summer internship working for a company that produced equestrian events was going to lead to a full-time job. Shortly before graduation, she found out the company was moving from Los Angeles to New York.

Alex Ghaffari, who grew up in Greenwich, Conn., headed west after graduating from Duke University in 2014 to seek a career in entertainment. He landed a position as a personal assistant to an actor. But when he wanted to move back to the New York area, he realized he was not sure what he wanted to do.

“I was all over the place in terms of my thinking,” he said.

After struggling with their job searches, Ms. Ryan, Ms. Murray and Mr. Ghaffari all sought the help of a company called Raising the Bar, which is run by Sandy Golinkin, the former publisher of Departures, Allure and Lucky magazines.

Ms. Golinkin promotes herself as a mix of ad hoc therapist, master networker, recruiter and job whisperer. She draws on her experience in publishing, where, she said, she hired more than 200 young adults.

“I managed them and coached them and brought them on to some really great careers,” she said. “I helped them realize their full potential.”

On the surface, college graduates have it good. The unemployment rate for adults 25 and older with a college degree dropped to 2.0 percent in May, compared with 3.9 percent for those in the same age group with a high school diploma and 5.4 percent for those who did not graduate from high school, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall unemployment was 3.8 percent in May, an 18-year low.

But what those statistics do not show is how workers feel about the quality of their jobs and whether the jobs are leading to a career. They also do not dip into the pressure graduates can feel to find a job that is meaningful.

Ms. Golinkin’s help in that regard does not come cheap: She charges $8,000 for 20 hours of sessions, or $400 an hour. But she stands by her process.

“Every moment I’m with my clients, I’m thinking about where they are and what makes them tick but also where they need to be more comfortable in talking about their strengths,” she said. “It’s helping people understand how to develop themselves as a brand. I’m there every step of the way.”

It starts with a two-hour session for her to get to know the client. She then works on the basics of résumé and interview preparation. Her focus, though, is on helping her clients figure out what they want to do and how to go about doing it — particularly if the vocation they are in is not what they had in mind. She’s open about using her own contacts to get interviews but also about being honest with her clients about their attributes.

Ms. Murray, a lifelong equestrian, said she did not know what she wanted to do after the job she expected disappeared.

“I wanted to work for a company I was proud of and motivated by,” she said. “I didn’t even know where to begin. I was really confused. I was also kind of ashamed that I didn’t have my life in order and squared away.”

She said Ms. Golinkin had helped her explore different industries and the types of jobs within each one. It took her all summer, but last fall, Ms. Murray started a job in the development department at the Milken Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Los Angeles. She credited Ms. Golinkin with guiding her there.

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Ms. Golinkin, center, at the home of a friend in Washington, where she gave a talk this month. “It’s helping people understand how to develop themselves as a brand,” she said of her service.CreditJustin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

Part of Ms. Golinkin’s process is helping her clients figure out what they want to do.

After graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, Will Fox moved to Brooklyn and began working at a technology start-up. Ms. Golinkin helped him find that job, but stayed in contact. After a few years, he began to get a better sense of what really inspired him, and Ms. Golinkin helped him think it through.

“Part of what she does is ask the questions: Where have you been that really excited you?” Mr. Fox’s mother, Libby Delana, said. “What she does is she asks really gentle yet probing questions to try to elicit good answers and to get really excited.”

Ms. Delana said her son has a passion for cooking and entertaining; he is now considering culinary school, thanks to guidance from Ms. Golinkin.

Aware that her prices exclude most young adults who could benefit from her counsel, Ms. Golinkin decided to offer a low-cost option.

“What I realized is a lot of America can’t afford my consulting,” she said, “so I spent a year writing online classes that I’m very proud of.”

Ms. Golinkin created a free, 45-minute video that offers an overview of what she teaches. She also offers five online classes for $89 each.

Programs offered by companies like Raising the Bar are intended for clients who have made it through college and are seeking help afterward. Vince Benevento founded the Causeway Collaborative six years ago to focus on young men who were adrift earlier in life.

The company’s signature program is Futures Planning, which aims to support young men with counseling, life planning and career preparation from the end of high school through the years after college.

Mr. Benevento said the problem existed across all demographics of young men. But in more affluent areas, it is driven by several factors, primarily a single-minded emphasis on college as the sole marker of success, he said. This pressure is combined with increased distractions from technology and stress from parents who may not be fully engaged in their children’s lives.

“The level of anxiety in our culture is beyond a degree we’ve ever experienced as a society,” said Mr. Benevento, a licensed therapist. “Kids are much more aware of stressors and pressure and focused on success.”

His company typically works with a young man for three to four months, during which the client will have 45 to 50 sessions, he said. The cost ranges from $200 to $235 an hour.

But for those who can afford it, the expense of job-preparation services are worth it if the outcome is good. Ms. Ryan said she had used about half of her hours with Raising the Bar, but she is not complaining about the leftover time. She landed a job selling event space at the CEB Tower in Arlington, Va., which has a view of the Washington skyline.

“Most of my friends got jobs, and they’re doing just fine,” she said. “But they struggled more because they didn’t have the same guidance that I did.”

As for Mr. Ghaffari, he decided to stay in entertainment, and Ms. Golinkin made introductions and guided him into what seemed like a dream job: executive assistant to the film producer Harvey Weinstein.

When the allegations of Mr. Weinstein’s sexual harassment of women arose, Mr. Ghaffari resigned and went back to Ms. Golinkin.

“She looked at my résumé and helped me through my next job hunt,” he said. He’s working now for a casting director.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: Adrift After College, Some Hire a Guide to Find a Path. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe